Big Lineup Falls Just Short

I'm concerned that the team is starting to break apart. This quote from Lou in Cooney's article yesterday was a little worrying:

"Guys are getting after each other. Today was one of those days. It's a good day for us, for guys to be competitive, to kind of yell and scream at each other, get that frustration out. I don't know if it's encouraged [by the coach]; it's like organized fighting almost; I'm not sure if he encourages that."

Like organized fighting!!!?? Is another EJ inspired Heywood/Thomas situation brewing?

"I'd love to hear from all the people who were so high on Jordan two games ago now that they've lost back-to-back games against Indy and Milwaukee"

Of course, they'll say it was the players and not the coach.
Why isn't Dalembert getting more playing time? Whenever he leaves the game, the sixers fumble rebounds and give up possessions.
Another two notes: this team looks like it's really coming apart. Something is a'brewin'.
I really think Iguodala is playing slightly injured. A few times during the game I saw him hobbling on that tweaked ankle.

How is it even possible to find any reason to be high on that buffoon? How fkn dumb is Stefanski?

The triple threat of Snider, Stefanski, and Jordon is the WORST IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.

Also congrats to you Brian, looking at the amount of comments that you get on a daily basis you have taken the crown as the #1 Sixers blog. This is probably due to how hard you worked in the off season posting something almost daily even though the Sixers themselves didn't do anything in the off season to inspire excitement. And your a good guy too, not acting like a sensitive bitch when someone disagrees with you and instead inspiring debate. Keep it up, we the die hards appreciate your work.

- Bob Cooney is finally ripping into EJ's work. 2 articles in a row. So, he is being double teamed by Kate & Bob.
- The 610 morning show has spent some Sixer ripping time in the morning after losses.
- Ed Snider in today's paper thought the Sixer's had good talent.
- Sixers lack of effort loss last night.

While I wasn't the one that was so high on Jordan two games ago, it would be hard for me to blame any rotation/substitution on him in this one.

Every single player that stepped foot on that court last night, except Brand and maybe Thad, was either woefully inept or just didn't give a crap to begin with. I would surmise that is why his rotations were extended to more players last night.

For me, this goes back to what I was saying at the beginning of the season about the players having some pride and giving it their all for each other. I mean, where's the courage? Where's the will to compete?

I don't give a shit how bad the coach or GM is, the least you can do is have your teammates' back. Iverson said a mouthful the other day when he said something like 'a negative attitude doesn't do any good at this point'.

Too many of our guys have an inflated sense of self-worth. With Iguodala and Lou at the head of the line. Iguodala speaks as if he's actually accomplished something during his career (I guess getting 80 mil is accomplishing something) and Lou somehow thinks he's 'earned' the right to be a starter just because we handed the job to him by default and he's been in the league for five years now apparently. Lou's play in certain facets of the game have always stunk and Iggy's play on certain nights looks like he has just tucked his tail and ran.

They're just a bunch of spoiled brats getting fat paychecks because if they were playing for a college team their behinds would be on a bench for lengthy periods. But on this level you can tune the coach out and willfully pout and get away with it.

That was the first game this year where I have seen the majority just not caring and mentally and physically checked out. And I sure hope it will be the last.

Maybe we can get the team to be featured on ABC's Extreme Makeover 'NBA Franchise Edition'.

No, I didn't predict a specific won/loss record for the entire season. But I did predict a .333 winning percentage the first month on a thread when the schedule was announced.

But the entire summer after the draft, I predicted a very bleak outlook for the team. There was just too much youth being counted on to play major roles.

I ranted about Stefanski signing a coach running an offense predicated on perimeter shooting, but he signed no shooters. I said Kapono wasn't the answer because he wouldn't be able to stay on the court long enough b/c of defensive defeciencies.

We all know that I raved that we had no point guard thus my dislike of the pick of Jrue who I felt wouldn't be anywhere near ready. Then Ed goes public and says he's looking for a backup point (but he re-signs Ivey?), a wing man (turned out to be Carney), and a post player (Primoz - really?).

All that goes without mentioning the obvious adjustments to new staff and systems being implemented. I knew losing Andre Miller would be huge and understated. And I've never had faith in Iguodala leading a team in good or bad times, which this year is painfully showing.

The recipe was ripe for a near-disaster. Then with the refusal to buy in to the new offense and the obvious lack of team-wide IQ in learning it - poof, the medium-length fuse has now blown up - if there ever were a fuse to begin with.

I remember your prediction with the inevitable second-half run as in the past two years. I just found it hard to make myself even believe 39 wins would be the ceiling, mainly because the on-court leader (Miller) was gone and the off-the-court leaders (Donyell and Theo) were gone too. Those components are absolutely vital when changing staffs. Especially a staff the guys appear to have tuned out around the end of the first month of the season.

Do you have a theory as to why the same young players never did this under Cheeks or DiLeo? I mean, was there even a hint of an attitude problem, or an effort problem for that matter, from these same guys when they were being coached by someone else?

Heck go back to Ayers, when "bad Iverson" was here - as I asked later - has any coach so thoroughly lost this (any) team so quickly.

Predisposition to hatred towards the players does make it easier to blame the players.

The insights into the psychology of Andre Iguodala that I get on this board are amazing...it's almost like when Dick Vitale told everyone what a mistake it was for him to go pro early and how he wouldn't succeed.

Good question. If I had to pose a theory, I would say because veterans were here, particularly Miller. He would always steady and right the ship. Along with, Cheeks was what you would call a players coach and DiLeo was just a stopgap and the players were kind of running the asylum considering their quotes after the season ended. (Iggy's and Theo's quotes)

Now, I do agree that this piss-poor effort is related to the dissatisfaction with the coach. Now the attitude(s) - those are more self-driven to me.

The coach is partly to blame here. But there seems to be some ego-bruising taking place along with dissension amongst the guys. And I think when Iverson was re-signed, it has brought it to the forefront and exposed it to a degree. Iverson may have been known as a selfish guy in his day, but if you pay attention to his quotes there's a message in there. And it's not a selfish one he's delivering.

As a former player who didn't like some coaches, I just have a hard time finding excuses for not having the guys backs around you. Blood, sweat, tears type of thing. But when ego's get in the way and grudges have developed, I guess it's hard to have the next guy's back when you don't feel an allegiance to him anyway. And that, is sad.

I get that Miller's gone, and I don't condone guys not giving effort, but as far as cohesion and veteran leadership goes, can we stop for a second and take a look at the leadership the coach is providing?

Pretty much from day one he declared war on the only real veteran on his roster, Elton Brand. Essentially, knocking Brand down a peg and negating whatever kind of influence he could've had on the team. Continuously he's used the press to call his entire team soft, immature, and weak puppies.

You can say there are certain qualities lacking from the players, but I think just as much of a compelling case can be made that Jordan has intentionally torn these guys down and done everything in his power to make them dependent upon him for leadership. Leadership which he is either incapable or unwilling to provide. Then it comes full circle, you've got this new coach who hasn't improved anything, in fact he's been telling anyone who will listen how much you suck on a daily basis, and now he's saying you don't have the heart to be a winner.

These 'qualities' that are lacking from the players as people claim - why weren't they lacking last year, or under cheeks, or before Miller got here...Iguodala has been Iguodala since he got to the league, before Andre Miller got here, so the only new 'factor' on him is the dumbest coach in the world.

Pointing to Andre Millers 'influence' is a straw man if I ever saw one

These qualities were indeed lacking - under Cheeks, before Miller got here etc. I think he's saying they were masked somewhat by Miller's steady play on the court.

And yes, Iguodala has been Iguodala since he came into the league and before Miller got here. But what did Iguodala lead us to in that period? Pretty much nothing, but a bad record like we have now. Coaches can keep changing, but at some point a player is what he is. They can only peak but so high.

Except what you wrote has nothing to do with the point were discussing which is people calling out Iguodala for being a 'bad guy' and not 'trying' hard enough and somehow extrapolating it to his entire career...if he's somehow quit on Joran this is the first time he's quit on anyone...he's always been giving his max effort as far as i'm concerned, but at some point, if your employer doesn't care enough about winning or being their best, why the hell should you?

You are right on so many levels. I was appalled at the disinterest in the game by just about everyone and I thought am I alone in this. It seems like everyone everywhere with the exception of Jordan have acknowledged it. The team has checked out. Only if Jordan would.

I've threatened to give up the sixers before, when the rat left but King didn't get fired, when they traded Iverson stupidly...but I never will.

Closest I came to not caring about the Sixers was the second half of 95-96. If the team stops caring, that's when it's hard to stay invested. This team is headed that way, and it's 10x more talented than the 95-96 team. I mentioned before that the determining factor for me as to whether to fire Jordan (and risk lottery position) is whether the team stops playing hard for him (with a secondary factor being whether the younger players are developing bad habits). Last night was really the first time this year I've seen that (bad attitude, lack of caring) on a team-wide level this year. Kate's blog did a great job documenting that.

Has anyone been able to figure out why Jordan would play Thad 31 minutes vs. the Pacers when he was playing horribly and only 19 minutes last night when he was playing exceptionally well? And why Kapono deserved a 9-minute run, mostly at Thad's expense? (Or, going back to the Pacers game, why Speights got 0 minutes in the 2nd half?) With almost any other remotely competent coach, I'd suspect the Sixers were in full tanking mode. With Jordan, you just don't know ...

Sounds about right. This team deserves a moment of silence. They are worth losing our hair over, i mean, they're our sixers, but at some point I worry that I'm feeding the beast by watching and writing, encouraging more apathy and lackadaisical approach from our ownership.

Even when Iverson had 'problems' with Chris Ford (which I thought were over blown but a certain portion of the fan base loved it and Ford is now an idol to them even though he's not a good coach), has any head coach since Brown seemed to have lost the entire team so quickly and entirely?

Sure O'brien had problems with Sam, sam cried publicly, and he was inserted back into the starting line up and the team seemed to get along again.

Sam whined a bit about 'his minutes' last year but that was a momentary blip.

I don't know that I've ever seen a coach so quickly and completely lose a team.

I'll tell you, he's a rare breed.. one I've honestly never seen before among coaches at this level. He possesses: (1) ape-like incompetence (to quote Frank Grimes), (2) an inflated ego that approaches clinical delusion (Is there a more pompous coach anywhere in the world flaunting a record as bad as his?), (3) an inability to "work well with others" or to exhibit even a cursory understanding of how to manage (and, dare I say, lead) a group of people, and (4) an inability to speak or otherwise communicate in a manner that would suggest he graduated junior high. As a player, I can't imagine taking a single thing he says seriously, on the court, in the locker room, at practice, or otherwise.